{"id":21060,"date":"2026-02-01T07:40:58","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T07:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/bitcoin-retreats-below-77000-tether-posts-10b-annual-profit-doj-seizes-400m-in-helix-assets-weekly-recap\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T07:41:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T07:41:07","slug":"bitcoin-retreats-below-77000-tether-posts-10b-annual-profit-doj-seizes-400m-in-helix-assets-weekly-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/bitcoin-retreats-below-77000-tether-posts-10b-annual-profit-doj-seizes-400m-in-helix-assets-weekly-recap\/","title":{"rendered":"Bitcoin retreats below $77,000, Tether posts $10B annual profit, DOJ seizes $400M in Helix assets | Weekly recap"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">In this week\u2019s edition of the weekly recap, Bitcoin pulled back sharply from its October all-time high while trading around $78,000, Tether disclosed record annual profits exceeding $10 billion, and the Department of Justice secured legal title to over $400 million in assets connected to darknet mixing service Helix.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_3e2a2f68b4805b8c0a03984e0239837e\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Bitcoin fell sharply from its peak, trading near $78,000 after months of ETF-driven gains.<\/li>\n<li>Tether closed 2025 with over $10B in profit and $6.3B in excess reserves.<\/li>\n<li>The DOJ secured legal title to $400M linked to the Helix darknet mixing service.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bitcoin retreats from record highs<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Bitcoin (BTC) declined to approximately $75,000 before recovering slightly to $78,000.<\/li>\n<li>This correction follows months of price appreciation driven by institutional adoption, spot ETF inflows, and expanding corporate treasury strategies throughout 2025.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tether reports record $10 billion annual profit<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The world\u2019s largest stablecoin issuer closed 2025 with net profits exceeding $10 billion.<\/li>\n<li>BDO Italy\u2019s fourth-quarter attestation confirmed Tether maintains $6.3 billion in excess reserves beyond its $186.5 billion in liabilities tied to issued tokens.<\/li>\n<li>USDT circulating supply expanded by $50 billion throughout the year, reaching over $186 billion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">DOJ obtains title to Helix darknet assets<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Department of Justice announced Thursday it has secured legal title to more than $400 million in seized cryptocurrency, real estate, and cash connected to the darknet Bitcoin mixing service Helix.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Buterin funds open-source projects from personal holdings<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin transferred 16,384 ETH worth approximately $45 million to personally finance open-source security and public technology initiatives.<\/li>\n<li>The Friday announcement coincided with Buterin describing the Ethereum Foundation as entering a \u201cperiod of mild austerity.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Binance converts SAFU reserves to Bitcoin<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The exchange announced Friday plans to convert $1 billion in stablecoin reserves from its Secure Asset Fund for Users entirely into Bitcoin over the next 30 days.<\/li>\n<li>Binance stated in an open letter that this conversion aims to support the industry through market cycles and periods of uncertainty.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Bybit introduces retail banking service<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The cryptocurrency exchange revealed plans to launch retail bank accounts for users immediately following Know Your Customer verification completion.<\/li>\n<li>CEO Ben Zhou unveiled \u201cMy Bank\u201d during a keynote speech outlining Bybit\u2019s strategic priorities for 2026.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">UAE registers first foreign dollar stablecoin<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Universal Digital Intl Limited launched USDU Thursday, claiming status as the first U.S. dollar stablecoin registered under the UAE\u2019s Payment Token Services Regulation.<\/li>\n<li>The company became the \u201cfirst Foreign Payment Token Issuer registered by the Central Bank of the UAE.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Optimism governance approves token-revenue alignment<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The layer-2 ecosystem\u2019s governance passed a proposal linking the OP token directly to Superchain economic performance with 84.4% voting approval.<\/li>\n<li>The measure passed after several days of discussion among delegates and tokenholders through Optimism\u2019s onchain governance portal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Fidelity announces Digital Dollar stablecoin<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>One of the world\u2019s largest asset managers disclosed plans to launch the Fidelity Digital Dollar, branded FIDD.<\/li>\n<li>The stablecoin will be issued by Fidelity Digital Assets\u2019 national trust bank and is expected to become available to both retail and institutional customers in coming weeks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Russia bans WhiteBIT exchange operations<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Prosecutor General\u2019s Office <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/epp.genproc.gov.ru\/ru\/gprf\/mass-media\/news\/main\/e8358714\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">declared<\/a> cryptocurrency exchange WhiteBIT \u201cundesirable,\u201d effectively prohibiting its operations within the country.<\/li>\n<li>Russian authorities cited WhiteBIT\u2019s provision of financial and technical support to Ukraine-linked initiatives. This includes fundraising programs connected to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Strategy moderates Bitcoin acquisition pace<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Strategy added approximately 2,900 Bitcoin to its stockpile last week for $267 million.<\/li>\n<li>The company now holds 712,647 Bitcoin.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">BitMine records largest Ether purchase<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The largest corporate Ether holder executed its biggest single acquisition of 2025 Monday, adding 40,302 ETH worth approximately $117 million following shareholder approval for expanded capital raising.<\/li>\n<li>Total holdings reached over 4.24 million tokens and represent 3.52% of Ether\u2019s circulating supply.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this week\u2019s edition of the weekly recap, Bitcoin pulled back sharply from its October all-time high while trading around $78,000, Tether disclosed record annual profits exceeding $10 billion, and&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10877,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21060","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21060","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21060"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21061,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21060\/revisions\/21061"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}